


Fog and Memory

by menhir



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Familiars, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2018-09-02 00:02:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8643331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/menhir/pseuds/menhir
Summary: Tony grew up within the ranks of Hydra. Once he and his familiar escaped, he devoted his life to dismantling the evil organization he helped arm. One ultra-patriotic super soldier dethawed from the Arctic and an alien invasion later, Tony's got himself a team and a boyfriend and things are looking up... but he's never quite forgotten the Winter Soldier, who he's never been able to rescue.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little something for Nico. Happy birthday :)

Well, the world was ending. Nothing new there. 

That Steve had actually bothered to call Tony for help— _that_ was enough to give Tony a heart attack. 

Tony flew into DC through a heavy blanket of fog, the Heads Up Display outlining the cityscape below with a colored grid of lights. A red-and-gold scaled form skimmed and rolled and skidded along the misty air currents beside him—a miniature dragon, his familiar. The little beast clicked and chirred at him, bristling her scales and flexing her claws in anticipation. She was just as eager to get there as he was. 

The only problem was, Tony didn’t know exactly where they were going—and it didn’t help he could barely see ten feet in front of him, which was a big problem when flying in at high speeds. Buildings and trees came ghosting through the fog, and the beams of slowly moving traffic below illuminated the haze. All the usual landmarks were obscured, and the HUD could only do so much to direct him. 

Steve had sent out a beacon for Tony to home in on, but halfway to DC he’d lost the signal. Which couldn’t be good. According to Steve’s hurried distress call, Hydra had infiltrated SHIELD and assassinated Nick Fury. There wasn’t time for the nitty gritty details, but all Tony needed to know was that Steve was in danger and Hydra was involved. 

No doubt Hydra was trying to remake the world again in some nefarious fashion or another. Tony knew their work firsthand and he knew it too well.

Tony’s parents had died in a car crash when he was no more than an infant and Obadiah Stane had taken over as Tony’s guardian. Just for good measure, he’d taken over Stark Industries as well. Tony’d trusted the man as a surrogate father, and so he’d trusted Obie when Obie introduced Tony into Hydra’s ranks when he was still too young to know better. As he grew, Tony’s technical genius had been exploited to develop weapons to further Hydra’s cause. By the time Tony was old enough to manifest a familiar, and therefore old enough to realize how twisted Hydra’s machinations were, he was already in too deep. 

It had taken years for Tony to escape Hydra’s hold and then wrestle control of his father’s old company back. He’d gotten some permanently embedded shrapnel in his chest for his trouble (among other things). The last few years, he’d been doing his best to dismantle Hydra and make amends for the harm his weapons had caused. 

And, honestly, Tony would have been able to make peace with Hydra engineering the end of days—that’s simply what Hydra _did_ —except for the fact that things had just started going _right_ in his life. So of course his past had to rear its ugly head and come screw it all up.

Tony had a criminally sexy boyfriend, who, well, okay, maybe the guy was a little overdone on the freedom and justice thing; but he was good to Tony and for once Tony thought that maybe, possibly, he was good for the guy in return. They butted heads from time to time, but at the very least Steve hadn’t politely, but firmly, kicked Tony out on his sorry ass. Not yet, anyway. 

And Tony really didn’t want to lose him.

That was saying something, considering Tony had spent most of his life pining after someone else.

“Come on, Cap,” Tony muttered. “Where are you?” 

His familiar trilled and shrieked a warning. 

An explosion lit up the fog several streets over, followed by the steady tattoo of gunfire. 

Well, that was a start. 

Tony altered course and veered into the fray. He spotted Steve’s familiar first—a grey wolf racing through the mist and leaping on an enemy agent, growling as he took the man down. Tony hovered long enough to zero in on Steve, who was crouched behind his shield not far away, taking heavy gunfire from a string of Hydra goons armed with artillery and brute familiars to match. 

Hydra really wasn’t kidding around with these guys.  

Tony swooped down in front of Steve, landing swift and hard enough to crack the pavement. Small, targeted missiles erupted from the suit and each of the Hydra agents fell to the ground and their familiars glowed and faded into wisps. 

Steve peered up at him from behind the shield, his expression softening with recognition. 

“Tony,” Steve said, relieved. He smiled as Tony’s familiar circled down to Steve’s shoulder and bumped her scaled forehead against his cheek. 

“Yep. That’s me,” Tony teased easily, offering his fugitive boyfriend a hand up.

“I didn’t think you’d come.”

“I’ll always come,” Tony said wryly, “if it’s you.” He really wished Steve could see the inappropriate waggle of his eyebrows and the incorrigible smirk on his lips behind the suit’s mask.

Somehow Steve got the message anyway—he knew Tony too well by now—and he gave Tony a flat, disappointed glare. “Now is not the time, Tony.” 

Tony held up his hands. “Got it. Serious world-changing stuff going on here,” he said. “By the way, what the hell _is_ going on here, Cap?” 

Most of the streets in the near vicinity were deserted. Panicked civilians had fled their cars and left headlights on and engines running. 

Another gunshot went off nearby and Steve’s wolf familiar snarled and raced toward the sound. 

“No time. Nat needs our help.” Steve grabbed up the shield and ran off after his familiar. 

“Right.” Tony and his dragon took to the air again, flying low to catch up to Steve. 

A Hydra operative was perched atop one of the abandoned vehicles with Natasha in his sights. Steve’s familiar raced in and took up a stance defending Natasha—her spider familiar was too small to help in situations like this one—while Steve charged the assassin with all the subtlety of a bulldozer. 

As the two grappled, Tony engaged the suit’s targeting systems. Then a flash of silver metal and a red star stopped him short. 

Tony froze. 

Yeah, so. About the guy Tony’d had a crush on all his life prior to meeting a certain spangled super soldier. 

Tony’s familiar came to a landing on his shoulder and made a small, pained noise.

Oh, god. It was him. He was _here._

The Winter Soldier. 

Of course Hydra had called out the asset. Of course they had. Tony should have expected it for a mission serious enough to warrant assassinating Nick Fury. 

That didn’t stop his stomach from dropping, and his throat from going dry. 

The suit’s mechanisms rolled and shifted, unlocking so Tony could discreetly slip out. It would have been safer—and probably smarter—to stay inside the protective metal plating; but the Soldier didn’t know Tony in the armor. Hell, it had been years since they’d last seen each other. That meant multiple mind wipes and countless drugs erasing their already tenuous connection. The Soldier might not know Tony at all now; but he had to try. 

Tony’s familiar circled around him in a glimmering line of scales, ready to protect him. 

“ _Tony_ ,” Steve shouted as he caught sight of him, “put the suit back on!”

Seriously, was there nothing the man didn’t notice? He was in the middle of a fight, being shot at and chased over the top of cars and slashed at with a knife, for god’s sake. But, sure, Tony getting out of the suit is what he notices. 

Tony wasn’t a match for super soldiers in the heat of combat. He couldn’t help either of them by getting in the middle. But he just needed the Soldier to _see_ him. _Please._

Steve grabbed the Soldier and flipped him, sending him sprawling across the pavement, his mask falling and rolling away. A shadowy vapor coalesced and slithered around the Winter Soldier. It moved against the sweeping rush of fog, as though the shadow had its own will. 

That was precisely the reason there were ghost stories about him.  

Tony ran in and grabbed Steve before he could attack again while the Soldier was disoriented. Tony’s dragon widened her circle of flight to include them both. 

“Don’t hurt him,” Tony said. Well, okay, he begged. He wasn’t above begging if he had to—if he thought it would sway Steve’s opinion. “He’s not himself.” 

“I don’t have much choice if he attacks us first,” Steve said, eying Tony doubtfully. He was trying to be patient, but the strain was evident in his tone. As usual, Tony was asking for too much. “He killed Fury and Sitwell already. I can’t let him endanger more lives. This is too important.” 

Tony’s stomach clenched again. “I grew up with him, Steve. _I know him._ He protected me, more than once.” Well, the Soldier protected Tony when he could. When he remembered through the static of brainwashing who Tony was. “Hydra made him this way.” He grabbed Steve’s jacket sleeve. “Please.”

“Is that why he doesn’t have a familiar?” Steve asked stiffly.

And ouch. That hurt. Popular opinion had it that not having a familiar was akin to not having a soul. That wasn’t true—there were all kinds of ways someone could lose their animal—but, yeah, to an outsider it looked bad. Really bad. 

Tony had grown up with the tortures of Hydra. He’d seen the worst they could do to a person and their familiar. Hydra could twist a person’s guardian into something truly horrific. Tony was lucky he’d been born a stubborn asshole and all the things they’d done to him served to make him—and his familiar—stronger. Other people like the Soldier weren’t so lucky. 

“He has one,” Tony insisted. Though he was a little pissed he had to make that the issue here. “Hydra suppressed it. I’ve seen it. He just—he can’t manifest it, Steve.” 

Steve’s familiar came trotting back through the mist, head low, hackles raised, teeth ready. He’d escorted Natasha away, and Tony knew her well enough to worry that she’d be back soon with counter measures. They didn’t have time to chat about this. 

The Soldier rolled over and staggered back to his feet, still stunned. 

Steve’s familiar made a low growl that tapered off into a high, incredulous whine. Steve frowned and brushed his fingers through the wolf’s soft fur, frowning.

Then the soldier turned and Steve went white, his mouth dropping open in shock. 

And holy shit. _Steve knew him, too_. How the hell did Steve know the Winter Solider? 

Tony didn’t have a chance to ask. 

The shadow of energy around the Solider coalesced and a weak, wavering, translucent form padded on soft paws around him. It was big. There was a flash of a long, feline tail, white fur and black spots, and large grey-blue eyes. It was only a moment and then the form faded back into smoke. 

“Bucky?” Steve whispered, his voice hollow and desperate with hope. 

_Bucky?_ Tony’s brow furrowed. _Who the—_

“Who the hell is Bucky?” the Soldier rasped. 

Tony’s heart thudded. It’d been so long since he’d heard that voice—always rough with screaming—and it made him ache. Right about now Tony didn’t care _how_ Steve knew the Soldier, all he cared was that Steve no longer seemed intent on fighting Tony about the need to save him. If they could just get through to him. 

The Soldier’s eyes shifted, turning to Tony just long enough to really _see_ him. The Soldier’s lips parted, and his brow furrowed. His eyes, grey like the sea, focused sharply. Then, pained, he staggered back a pace, grabbing for his gun. 

Out of nowhere, a gyrfalcon familiar swooped down and clipped the Solider with his talons. A stranger wearing mechanical wings swooped down after it, knocking the Solider off his feet before he could take the shot.

Tony didn’t have time to process the unexpected arrival. His familiar shrieked another warning and there was the distinct sound of a rocket launcher discharging. As predicted, Natasha had come back with serious counter measures.Then everything was fire and chaos and fog and billowing smoke. Tony lost sight of the Soldier in the mist.

SHIELD agents—covert Hydra operatives—were converging on the scene, ready to arrest Captain America. They had to get out of here. 

Tony and Steve looked at one another, sharing a moment of vulnerable understanding. The Soldier—Bucky—belonged with them. He was important to them both, though they didn’t understand each other’s reasons for it quite yet. They could talk that all out later. For now—

Tony grabbed Steve’s hand. “We’ll find him,” he promised fiercely. 

Steve gripped Tony’s hand in return and nodded decisively. “We’ll bring him back.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another installment for Nico's birthday. Happy birthday, Nico ♡♡♡

It was going to hurt to get him back, but Tony knew it would. Anything Hydra was involved with was going to hurt. Hydra enforced order—their order—and order only came through pain. 

The Winter Soldier would be at the Triskelion for the launch of the helicarriers. Hydra’s puppet assassin had outlived his usefulness and it was time to make an upgrade. Project Insight promised a new level of loyalty Hydra would never get from their brainwashed toy soldier. Not to mention a head count only a machine could deliver. So, when the helicarriers went up, the Winter Soldier would fall. 

“This is our chance,” Tony said to Steve as they stood together on the walkway over the dam. The sky was grey over the dense forest surrounding their makeshift hideout. Steve’s wolf familiar paced the narrow walkway, vigilant for threats, his breath steaming in the early morning air. Tony’s miniature dragon familiar perched on the metal handrail, her nails clicking and ticking as she skittered along the rail, following the wolf. “Our _only_ chance,” Tony added.  

“You think they want to kill him?” Steve asked. 

“They’ve never been this reckless with him before,” Tony said. “Seventy-plus years he’s been working in the shadows, with barely more than a whisper of him. Suddenly they send him out in the middle of DC, guns blazing, for all the world to see? They’re done with him.” 

“So they’re going to dispose of him and hopefully us with him.” 

“That’s the idea.” 

Steve’s familiar paused in his pacing to whine and nose at Steve’s leg. Steve knelt down to ruffle the wolf’s fur and reassure him. 

After some thought, Steve said, “I made a promise to him a long time ago, Tony. ‘To the end of the line.’” 

Tony nodded and helped his familiar onto his shoulder. The dragon clicked and chirred and pawed gently at Tony’s hair. “If I’d known who he was, I would have tried harder to get him out with me when I escaped Hydra,” Tony said. “I _should_ have tried harder.” Hydra had compartmentalized the structure of their organization precisely so no one could know all their secrets, but… “I should have put two and two together.” 

“Don’t do that, Tony,” Steve said. “You did everything you could. It’s a miracle you rescued yourself.” 

Tony leaned his elbows on the railing, sighing deeply. Until today, he hadn’t known Hydra’s grasp extended to SHIELD. He thought he’d been pretty close to top-level in Hydra’s ranks, and that he’d known where most of their major infiltrations had taken place; but apparently he’d been more of a pawn than he thought. That explained why SHIELD showed up in his life right after he’d escaped, and also why Hydra hadn’t fought harder to get Tony back. Through SHIELD, they were still benefitting from Tony’s technical genius. Hell, the new helicarriers Hydra had commissioned for Project Insight were flying under the power of Stark-brand innovation.

Steve leaned against him, shoulder-to-shoulder, and Tony’s dragon crawled over and nosed under Steve’s chin affectionately. Steve scratched under her jaw and she made a soft noise and purred. 

“It’s not your fault,” Steve said. 

“I cared about him,” Tony said, lacing his fingers together and squeezing his hands into a ball. “You don’t leave people you care about behind.” 

“He means something to both of us,” Steve said, “and we _both_ left him behind.” 

Tony nodded, but the ache in his chest didn’t ebb. 

“Whatever happens with him,” Steve reached over and took one of Tony’s hands in his, “it doesn’t change what’s between you and me.”

Tony looked over at Steve, considering what he meant. Tony’d been around the block more than once. Romantic promises weren’t always what they were cracked up to be, even if it was Captain America himself handing them out. And Tony was sure Steve meant it, but… time would tell. He hoped, desperately, that it was true. 

Tony leaned in and Steve closed the distance for a kiss. Steve’s fingers threaded through the hair at the back of Tony’s head and he held him close. When they broke apart, Steve rested his forehead against Tony’s and Tony closed his eyes. 

Not long after, Sam came out to get them and it was time to face the ghost from their past.  

 

+

 

Fire and debris rained down, clouding the air with thick smoke as the helicarriers sank from the sky. 

Tony had his hands full flying damage control, trying to keep the falling machinery from impacting civilian targets. He had just extracted Sam from the Triskelion and deposited him onboard a helicopter with Hill, Nat, and Fury, and Tony was taking off again to find his erstwhile boyfriend, somewhere in the explosive tangle of metal and fire. Steve's comm had gone out midway through the battle, just after Steve had ordered Hill to destroy the helicarriers.  

Steve had been fighting the Soldier, and Steve was hurt. That was all Tony knew, and it was maddening that he couldn’t get to them faster in the confusion of smoke and ash. Tony wasn’t even sure which helicarrier they were on. 

Tony’s dragon circled and spun in knots beside him, trilling a question. 

“They’ve got to be around here somewhere,” Tony answered. 

Sure enough, as Tony dodged another chunk of crumbling debris, a howl went up from the wreckage. Steve’s wolf familiar was wounded and scrambling along the edges of a gaping hole in the glass underbelly of one of the aircrafts. 

Not far away, the Soldier was dangling from a twisted metal girder, watching, impassive, as burning parts fell into the Potomac below.

What the hell was going on? 

Tony swooped in and was barely able to catch Steve’s familiar as the frenzied wolf leapt for the water. Familiars were more resilient than regular animals, but a fall that far could still do some damage, and that would hurt Steve, too—above and beyond what had already been done. 

Where _was_ Steve? Tony did a quick scan of the structure, but the only other life sign aboard was the Soldier’s. 

What were the odds the Soldier would fight back if Tony tried to rescue him now? With that metal arm, he could do serious damage to the suit and Tony could be grounded for the remainder of the battle. Without knowing where Steve was, Tony wasn’t sure he could risk it. But what if this was his only chance? 

The HUD zeroed in on the Soldier. He wasn’t wearing his mask and his expression was naked and vulnerable in a way Tony had never seen before. The Solider seemed to meet Tony’s scrutiny with a calm sort of _knowing_. And then he just… let go. 

Tony’s heart stopped. 

He dove after, but the Soldier plunged into the water and, with Steve’s familiar in his arms, Tony had to pull up short of the river’s surface. By the time Tony had deposited the wolf somewhere safe and circled back, the Soldier was slogging to shore, dragging a waterlogged Steve Rogers behind him. 

And here Tony had thought they were coming to save the Soldier and not the other way around. 

Steve was soaked and bruised and beaten, a wide red stain on the belly of his uniform.

Jesus, but it hurt to see him like that. Tony's familiar keened when she saw him and she raced ahead, snapping at the Soldier's hands and hissing, forcing him away from Steve's prone body.

Muddy riverbanks weren’t exactly made for heavily-armored superhero landings, so Tony brought the suit to a hover and gently set down. He held up a repulser as a warning, just enough show of force to stop the Soldier before he could think about disappearing into the greenery along the edge of the river. 

“Is he still alive?” Tony asked, his throat tight. 

The Soldier winced away from the authoritative metallic voice coming from the suit. 

Tony performed a quick scan and confirmed Steve’s vital signs—weak, but still there. At least for the time being. Tony sent a distress signal and then unlocked the suit. The plates peeled back so he could step out, the suit still on guard in case things turned dicey. It was now or never. 

“Please don’t run,” Tony said, holding up his hands. “I don’t know if you remember me, but I sure as hell remember you.” 

It was hard to forget that metal hand clamping hard around Obadiah Stane’s wrist, squeezing the bones until they cracked and bruising Obie’s skin a hideous purple-black—a color that wouldn’t fade for months. And that was just the first time they had met, just the first time the Soldier had protected Tony from Hydra when Tony had been too young and too small to protect himself.

The Soldier swayed on his feet, uncertain, nervously searching the underbrush for escape routes. 

“I want to help you,” Tony said, coming forward slowly. “We both do.” He nodded to Steve's unconscious form. “I won’t stop you if you want to go; but, a long time ago, Steve made you a promise and I know for a fact he really wants to keep it.”  

Mist-like energy coalesced around the Soldier in patterns as raw as the churning smoke clouds above them. 

Tony tilted his head. Maybe he was getting through. Why not press his luck? Whether or not the Soldier knew it, they’d been through hell together. And if Tony couldn’t say what he was feeling now, he might not get another chance. “Steve said he was with you to the end of the line.” 

The Soldier flinched and the mist flickered with agitation. A shadowy form moved inside the spiraling energy.

“He already told you that, didn’t he?” Tony said. Steve had broken through the conditioning, just enough to give the Soldier a chance to defy his mission parameters. That's why the Soldier had saved Steve instead of killing him. “He’s with you to the end of the line.” Tony lifted his chin, determined. “And so am I.” 

The Soldier put his hands to his face and choked back an anguished cry. 

Bright, blue-grey eyes opened out of the moving shadows surrounding the Soldier. White fur with black spots and a long tail followed. The snow leopard familiar stepped out of the ephemeral plane and left tracks on the soft, wet ground of the shore. She was real again, and the Soldier sagged to his knees. 

 

+ 

 

As difficult as the Triskelion battle had been, bringing the Soldier home wasn’t any easier. Bucky—that name was still laughable to Tony (of all the names Tony had imagined the mysterious assassin might have, “Bucky” certainly wasn’t one of them)—Bucky still wasn’t exactly himself. He wasn’t the old flame Steve remembered from his youth. And whatever shards of memory were scraping around in Bucky’s mind, he still didn’t seem to be able to piece together exactly who Tony was, either. Bucky’s snow leopard familiar was weak, and even when she managed to fully manifest, she was foggy around the edges. She left tendrils of dark smoke wherever she tread.

But at least Bucky was safe. At least they knew where he was. He never left his rooms. More often than not he sat quietly, staring out his window with his familiar draped across his lap—that metal hand sinking into her soft fur as if to confirm to himself they were both real. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for now. 

Steve and his familiar were healing, too. 

They were all healing, in their own ways. 

Whatever else was broken between the three of them, they had time to work on it. 

 

+

 

“Hey, stop it. I need that,” Tony chided his dragon as she snatched another metal part from his work bench. As usual, she didn’t listen. She had a hoard in the couch cushions and skittered away to deposit her new treasure. 

Tony sighed and turned back to his project, making a note to order more redundant pieces. He’d been lost in his work for days, trying to keep himself occupied while Steve recuperated and a proper medical team was set up for Bucky. Tony's knee bobbed as he tried to refocus on the task at hand. He had too much anxious energy and if he didn’t work, he’d drive himself (and everyone else) crazy.

Movement outside the glass doors to the lab caught the periphery of Tony's attention. He kept working, but there was no knock or buzz over the comms requesting entry. It was another few minutes of soldering before he swiveled in his seat and was startled to find Bucky’s familiar sitting on her haunches outside the lab, watching him with half-lidded eyes.

“Oh,” Tony said. He keyed in an entry code and the door opened. 

The leopard padded into the lab, slow and easy, her shoulders rolling.

Tony didn’t dare breathe. His dragon poked her head out of the couch cushions and trilled softly. Tony held up a finger and she stayed still and quiet. 

“Hi, sweetheart,” Tony said gently as the leopard sauntered his way. “Why aren’t you with your person?” He held out his hand to her and she snuffled at his fingers with minimal interest. She padded around the lab in one big, slow circle, assessing everything she came across, and then she padded out again without ceremony. 

Tony let out his breath.  

His familiar tilted her head and chirred at him. 

Tony didn’t know exactly what had just happened, but… “It’s a start,” he said. 

 

+

 

Tony adjusted security settings for the lab to allow the leopard inside whenever she approached the door. When she finally came back again, Tony was working on upgrades to Steve’s suit and a fully-recovered Steve was lounging on the sofa reading a book. Tony’s dragon was stretched out across Steve’s shoulders, her tail coiled around his arm as though to claim him for her hoard. Steve’s familiar was resting at Tony’s feet and the wolf’s ears perked up. 

The leopard entered and circled the lab again, like she had done the first time—slow, assessing. But this time, she lay down on the floor beside Steve’s wolf, close to Tony's feet. She curled up and rested her chin on her paws and the wolf whined and sniffed at her fur, his tail thumping.  

Tony swallowed a lump in his throat. Steve shared the sentiment—his eyes were red and his mouth parted in awe. Familiars weren’t pets, and by nature they tended not to associate with anyone their person didn’t already have an affinity for. If the leopard felt safe enough to want to be in the lab, this close to both Tony and Steve, then maybe some part of Bucky felt the same. Maybe just a little? 

It hurt to hope, but Tony found himself hoping anyway. 

 

+

 

Tony’s dragon became more bold with Bucky’s familiar than Tony dared to be. When the leopard visited, which she did with more and more frequency, the dragon fussed at her. She brought the leopard bits of treasure and combed her claws through the leopard’s spotted fur. When the big cat curled up to sleep, the dragon burrowed into her fur like a nest. The leopard didn’t seem to mind; and, after a while, she started playing with the dragon, chasing her around the lab at a spirited lope as the dragon glittered and flirted and flew just out of reach. The leopard was a quiet creature, much like her person, but sometimes Tony caught the sound of her purring. 

Tony was no doctor, but he was pretty sure those were all good signs. On top of that, the leopard looked more substantial with every visit. The edges of her form were sharper and more solid. She still sometimes left paw prints of mist where she walked, but they were faint—less like storm clouds and more like a pale fog just before the sunrise. 

 

+

 

It was the small hours of the morning when Tony and the rest of the team returned home from an overseas mission. His familiar was curled around his neck and shoulders, drowsing, and Tony brushed his fingers softly over her scales. They’d been gone for a handful of days, tracking some of the remaining splinter sects of Hydra in Europe; but somewhere along the line Tony had lost track of the exact amount of time they’d been away. It felt like too long. He was tired and bruised and wanting nothing more than to wind down with a few quick repairs to the suit. (And maybe some minor upgrades. It might not hurt to make a few more adjustments to Steve’s new uniform, either.) 

The lights came up in the lab and there was Bucky, asleep, curled in a blanket on the lab sofa.

If Tony had been holding anything, he would have dropped it.

Bucky's familiar was alert and draped protectively over his lap, watching Tony with keen intelligence—her tail curling and uncurling. She was testing him, challenging him to make the wrong move.  

Tony’s dragon stirred and ruffled her scales with excitement, wanting to investigate the new treasure that had been added to her couch-cushion hoard. Tony kept her back and dimmed the lights a fraction as he typed out a hasty message to summon Steve, his fingers trembling on the keypad. As far as he knew, this was the first time Bucky had left his room. 

Steve was there in a heartbeat, but it felt like an eternity. His wolf whined and tail waved at Tony's discovery. Steve and Tony hovered at the lab door, keeping their familiars close, both of them afraid to break whatever spell had brought Bucky here. 

“Should we call someone?” Tony asked, keeping his voice low. “One of the doctors?” 

“He’s not hurt is he?” Steve asked. 

“I don’t think so.”

"Let's see." Steve braved the leopard’s challenging stare and came forward.  When she didn’t protest, he sat down on the sofa near Bucky, giving him enough space to keep the possessive familiar happy. “Hey, Buck? You okay?” 

Bucky breathed in sharply and his hand went straight to the leopard to reassure himself she was still there. He sat up groggily and mumbled, “Steve?” 

Steve gave a wobbly smile. It had to have been the first time Bucky had said his name in more than seventy years. “Yeah, it’s me, Buck. Tony’s here, too.” 

Bucky searched for him and Tony was floored by the responsiveness and recognition he saw in Bucky's expression.

“Hi,” Tony said dumbly. A decidedly uncharacteristic, shy smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. It had been a long time since he’d had butterflies in his stomach, but he dared to take a seat on Bucky’s other side, holding out a hand for the leopard to approve. She pushed her face into Tony’s palm and rumbled, and Tony scratched behind her ears, his heart soaring. 

Steve’s wolf leapt up on the couch to join them and Tony’s dragon scampered down from his shoulder. She burrowed into the leopard’s fur, trilling happily to have her hoard so full. 

Steve reached for Bucky’s hand and, with only some hesitation, Bucky took it. Bucky reached for Tony, too, and clasped his hand tightly, squeezing. 

He remembered. He did. And Tony had to work hard to blink back the tears. 

Bucky lay his head against the back of the couch and closed his eyes with a sigh. “I thought you guys were never comin’ home.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My [Tumblr](http://explodingcrenelation.tumblr.com)! :)


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